Baker Books quietly reopens in a new, smaller location

DARTMOUTH — Bibliophiles take heart! Baker Books has a new home, at 2 McCabe Street in South Dartmouth, off Rockdale Avenue at the city line.

The summer closing of Baker Books on State Road and their satellite used books operation, Reminders to be Seen, three years earlier, saddened many local book patrons.

Some saw it as a 'sign of the times' because so many national book retailers had or were closing some or all of their locations. But for Benjamin and Deborah Baker, owners and operators of the local, independent Baker Books, closing permanently was never an option — relocation was the problem at hand.

Moving from the leased building on Route 6 to the property they owned on McCabe Street was the answer, but considerable remodeling had to be done before the "new" building, the former State Fruit location, was suitable to their needs.

In recent years, the Bakers used the building as office space. "The building was cold and damp," Benjamin noted. "It used to be a produce warehouse, and that kind of environment might be good for fruit, but it's bad for books. Now it is warm and dry, just how books like it."

The other problem for he and his wife Deborah was inventory. The new space on McCabe St. has less shelf space than their old location, so they had to winnow down the existing inventory for what Benjamin called a "soft opening" over Labor Day weekend.

"Shelf space is a problem," Ben said. "You can't fit all the books in the world on your shelves, although the Strand (in New York City) sure tries," he joked.

As before, Bakers will feature books by local authors on various subjects and special interests, both new and used. The new book selections have been trimmed a bit, too, and some new book requests will have to be ordered and picked up at the store.

Moving the store is not a new experience for the Bakers. The first Baker Books opened in downtown New Bedford in 1999; for six years, it was located in the old Cherry and Web building on Purchase Street. The business moved to the State Road location in 2005.

Deborah recalled, "There was always a parking problem at the downtown location. We actually looked at moving back downtown after we closed the Route 6 location, but the parking issue remained." There were also Baker Books stores in Fall River and Osterville once upon a time, the Dartmouth residents noted.

What is new and unfamiliar to the Bakers and others in the book trade is their future in the business. Benjamin said, "I feel the move was timely, given the way the industry is going. There is less demand for new books; even the big chains are re-thinking" their business models, he noted.

The Bakers intend to stick to the formula that has brought them success through the years. "We like to take care of our customers, and we take care of people who want harder-to-find things — that is kind of our specialty," Benjamin suggests.

Baker Books does a lot of ordering of specialty books for their customers, but here again they find themselves competing with online companies. Asked if online retailers have an unfair advantage because they don't charge state sales tax, Deborah said it would certainly "level the playing field for local sellers" if online sellers also had to charge the tax.

"Book sales are loss leaders for these on-line retailers; we serve another audience around here — people who like to shop small and local," she said. While she does sell e-books, Deborah noted "many people would rather hold a book in their hands; it's just not the same" as an e-reader.

When asked about the future of Baker Books and independent stores like it, Deborah said, "it's hard to say," what the future might bring.

Thinking for a moment, she continued, "I hope there will always be a place for the community book store."